The Love I Begged For Was Never Real novel Chapter 60

While sorting a batch of barbed silver bases, she accidentally sliced her index finger, and blood instantly welled up.

She casually put the finger in her mouth to suck the blood away, haphazardly wrapped it in a tissue, and lowered her head to continue counting.

At 2:00 PM, a client from a mid-tier domestic jewelry brand arrived at the studio to discuss a seasonal collaboration.

Arthur happened to be out for a meeting, so Sloane took the lead in hosting them as the head designer.

To show off the scale of their team, Sloane deliberately called Nora out of the storage room, making her bring a few old rejected drafts to the conference room just to fill a seat.

In the conference room, Director Chambers flipped through their resumes. His eyes paused on Nora's profile, and his brow immediately furrowed.

"Designer Xavier, your resume shows a three-year blank period right after graduation?"

Director Chambers looked up, his gaze critical and judgmental as he eyed Nora's slightly dusty, unkempt appearance. "Where were you for these three years? Which small firm were you working for?"

Not wanting anyone to know she used to work for The Hayes Group, Nora simply answered in a low voice, "I wasn't in the workforce for those three years due to personal family reasons."

"Family reasons?"

Director Chambers scoffed, tossing Nora's resume back onto the table. "So you were a full-time housewife for three years? Ma'am, our collaboration is a commercial line aimed at the youth market. We need professionals with a sharp sense of the market. We're not paying top dollar to run a charity, nor are we providing a hobby class for housewives."

Sitting nearby, Sloane picked up her coffee cup and took a sip, a smug smile of amusement on her lips, making absolutely no effort to defend Nora.

Nora paled slightly. Looking at Director Chambers, she maintained a polite tone. "Director Chambers, I have done my research on market trends. These sketches of mine..."

"No need."

Director Chambers cut her off impatiently, shoving her sketches aside without a single glance. "Sloane, please don't let someone so out of touch participate in our core project. It'll just drag down the overall quality. You should just take the lead."

Sloane smiled and nodded. "Rest assured, Director Chambers, we will naturally assign our most professional staff to follow up."

"As long as I can sit here and draw, and as long as my work gets produced, time will prove everything."

Nora offered Janie a reassuring smile. "Go get back to work. I still need to finish this morning's inventory sheets."

Seeing how unfazed Nora was, Janie let out a heavy sigh.

By 8:00 PM, everyone else in the studio had left.

Nora took the completed inventory logs upstairs. She placed the binder on Sloane's desk, then returned to her own workstation.

She turned on her computer, inputted the data she had verified today into the system, and continued revising her derivative sketches.

Nora gripped her stylus, watching the lines slowly take shape on the screen.

She needed to revise her drafts and prepare for the showcase next Wednesday. That was the only thing she needed to focus on right now. As for the gossip, she didn't care at all.